There was a lot of fun and excitement at the 2001 Anzio Championship: many tension-packed games, victory snatched from the jaws of defeat, astounding runs of dice, and another changing of the guard.

Carrying momentum from last year, this summer's 2001 Anzio tournament enjoyed tremendous success with the Swiss-Elim format, drawing a total of 21 entrants. On Tuesday, we got off to a flying start, as eleven early arrivers were eager to get into the fray. By Wednesday, the veteran cast of Anzio regulars were all there, along with some eager newcomers. This made for an excellent field of combatants who squared off for a total of 27 hard-fought games. Snaring top honors in his third try, Steven Likevich became the second first-time winner in two years.

Steve began his march to the finals by defeating Paul Fletcher in a very close game. Steve's Allies were nearly evicted from their initial invasion beachhead at Terracina. The German offensive actually retook the city but fell just short of destroying the entire beachhead, as mud arrived to end the German air superiority. The Allies hung on and eventually got their five cities. After a victory over Jim Mehl's Germans, Steve was ready for a third opponent.

In the meantime, a newcomer to this tournament, John Grant, was making waves. John, a veteran gamer who has plaques from Bulge '81 and Russian Front tournaments, had never played Anzio before last summer. The reigning Anzio champ Bob Ryan taught John the game, and they practiced for the 2001 tournament by E-mail. It appears that Bob did an excellent job teaching, because John not only knocked off his teacher, but he also beat Tom Oleson, and gave seven-time champ Mike Sincavage (above, right) a real scare. Mike's Germans looked defeated on the last turn of their game, but Mike was able to find a not-so-obvious automatic victory in the middle of the Allied line. This opened the way for the Germans to recapture a city and gain the narrow victory.

After playing three former champs, John could have rested on his laurels and had a good chance to make it to the finals, but he chose to take on Steve Likevich. He came close to crushing Steve's Napoli invasion, but fell just short. The weakened Germans were then relegated to defense and the Allies eventually made good progress overland. The game remained close to the end. A tactical coup by the Allies at Anzio sealed the victory for Steve in the last couple of turns, gaining him a record of 3-0.

Mike Sincavage's victories over Paul O'Neil and Bryan Jackson put him at 3-0 also, which set the table for the tournament final: Steve Likevich vs. Mike Sincavage. Steve drew the Germans and denied Termoli and Napoli as viable invasion sites with his initial setup. This left Terracina and Salerno as the most reasonable remaining choices. Mike decided to avoid Terracina, knowing that Steve would go all out to crush the invasion, with Germans having air superiority. So, Salerno it was. To win the game is a long haul for the Allies from Salerno, but Mike is a seven-time champ for good reasons. He seldom makes blunders and has an uncanny ability to spot weak points and small errors in his opponents' positions. Nonetheless, Steve kept his cool and played a solid game, avoiding errors that would give the Allies an opening. Alas for Mike, he couldn't BUY a decent die roll. Each of the six or more 1:1 & 1:2 Allied attacks on Vesuvio was repulsed. The Allies couldn't get off the dime until too late in the game and Steve's Germans held on for victory. As Mike reported after the game, Steve played extremely well with the Germans and the Allies would have had a tough time winning even with "kinder" dice.

It was a well-earned first place for Steve (4-0), and a strong tournament for Mike who ended up with the second place honors, on a record of 3-1. Worthy of note is the sportsmanship displayed by Steve throughout the tournament. Steve is just a really nice guy and always a pleasure to play against. Actually, this is the norm for the Anzio group, but I think that all would agree that Steve stood out in this regard. In the consolation game, Tom Oleson, 9-2, defeated old friend Paul Fletcher, 2-2, to secure third place. John Grant, 2-2, finished fifth and veteran Chris Harris, 2-2, finished sixth.

Bill Scott, a strong Anzio player, had fun defeating Tom Oleson with some glorious help from the dice. Nick Frydas returned to the tournament after several years absence, and made a good showing, going (1-1) with his only loss to Tom Oleson. Tom enjoyed games with 11 friends, including Bryan Jackson, who was back for four games, and Walt Garman, a tournament regular. Paul O'Neil's silly songs did not help his luck this year, and Bruno Sinigaglio fell victim to Bob Ryan's tough Germans.

All in all ,there were 27 games played with the Germans winning 15. As for initial invasion sites, the Allies won: two of six invading at Salerno, three of five invading at Napoli, two of three invading at Terracina, and five of 12 invading at Termoli while losing their only attempt at Mondragone. Throughout the tournament, good sportsmanship was the rule, and the participants had a great time.

2001 PBeM Tournament

22 players took part in BPA's Anzio PBeM tournament hosted by Bruno Sinigaglio's BPAClassics.com. The laurel winners were as follows:

1st. Bob Ryan, MI
2nd. Tom Oleson, WA
3rd. Steve Likevich, OH
4th. Paul Fletcher, CT
5th. Bryan Jackson, NY
6th. John Ellsworth, IL